Wat het hart doorboort
The experiences of loss, love, anger, triumph, or even peace can create strong emotions, in Italian, affetti. The concept of affetti, derived from ancient rhetoric and poetic theory, became central to Renaissance art theory where human passion and feelings were conveyed through movement, gesture, art and music. Trying to capture affetti in music composers turned to writing monody: the solo voice accompanied by one or more instruments. Each text set to music had one or more distinct affetti and the musician becomes an actor, stepping into the skin of the protagonist to transmit their passions to the listener in a way so effective they are powerless to resist change in their own emotional
state.
It is through music that these passions pierce the heart, “for rhythm and harmony”, as Plato states, “find their way to the most inward places of the soul”.
By bending or breaking compositional “rules” or best-practices that reigned throughout the Renaissance, composers musically intensified the emotions suggested in the text. In every piece of the program, the listener may recognize themselves, for the passions and affections that flow through it are shared by every soul that feels.
Trio Turbulences:
Ana Parejo Belando, voice
Tim Meulenbeld, cornett
Eric Meier, lute
